Who Has the NFL's Worst Offense: Jaguars or Chiefs?

The Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs have ended the first half of the 2012 NFL season with a lot in common, including matching 1-7 records, but the franchises also sport two of the most laughable offenses in the entire NFL.

In what is a high-scoring passing league these days, the Jags and Chiefs have managed to be horrendous in all aspects of the offense. Thanks to miserable quarterback play, horrible play-calling, a porous offensive line or some mixture of all the above, neither team exactly strikes fear into the hearts of defenses.

It takes a special unit to end up with the worst offense in the entire NFL, but Jacksonville and Kansas City have managed to do just that. Let's examine each miserable unit and attempt to decide which is worse.

Kansas City

The Chiefs offense isn't statistically the worst in the league and is actually pretty formidable on the ground, with the running game averaging 150 yards per game—good for the No. 3 ranking in the NFL.

It's all downhill from there.

Kansas City is has one of the more talented teams on paper, minus the quarterback position. Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn have swapped the starting gig but have only led the offense to 207 passing yards a game. Cassel has a 68 quarterback rating on the year, Quinn's is 43.

Surprisingly, the biggest issue in Kansas City isn't the quarterback position—it's the play-calling from head coach Romeo Crennel and his staff.

Crennel has a top-five running back in Jamaal Charles, who already has 634 yards on the ground with a 4.8 yards-per-carry average. For some unfathomable reason, the coaching staff has only allowed Charles to rush the ball 17 times in the past two contests.

There's a lot wrong in Kansas City, but it starts at the top with the coaching staff.

Jacksonville

While the Chiefs are one of the more talented teams on paper, the Jaguars don't even have that going for them.

Jacksonville ranks dead last in scoring in the NFL, as quarterback Blaine Gabbert and company only put up 14.6 points per game. It also ranks last in passing yards and total yards per game. It's a bit of a surprising statistic considering some of that supposed talent that is on the Jaguars roster.

Second-year quarterback Gabbert has made some progress from his abysmal rookie campaign, but he doesn't exactly have the best weapons around him. Rookie receiver Justin Blackmon, the No. 5 overall selection in the 2012 NFL draft and supposed No. 1 receiver, has been a bust to this point.

Add in that last year's leading rusher, Maurice Jones-Drew, held out in the offseason and has a mediocre season, and it's easy to see why Gabbert is orchestrating the worst offense in the league.

It's going to be extremely difficult for Gabbert to turn into a franchise quarterback when the front office keeps whiffing on draft selections and actually bringing in talent to build around him.

Verdict

The Jacksonville Jaguars don't just have the worst statistical offense in the NFL—they have the least talented unit at almost every position.

While the Kansas City Chiefs have been horrible offensively, a simple coaching change could transform a talented unit into at least an above-average unit in the matter of weeks.

The same cannot be said for the Jaguars.

The verdict is still out on Gabbert, but there is literally nothing around him except an over-the-hill running back, a glorified No. 1 receiver that is undersized and a mess of role-players without a defined role.

Jacksonville not only has mediocre offensive coaching, it's backed by one of the worst front offices in the league in terms of personnel decisions. As a result, the Jaguars have the worst offense in the NFL.